Cats Embracing Quick Turn, Opportunities to Improve
The University of Kentucky is a much quieter place this week, unless you’re on the men’s basketball team.
While most of their classmates are home getting ready to eat as much they can on Thanksgiving, the Wildcats are spending their “break” getting ready for their sixth game in 13 days to open the regular season.
 |
||
| Kentucky vs. Fort Wayne | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Wed., Nov. 22 – 8 p.m. ET |
||
| Coverage | ||
|
TV: SEC Network |
||
| UK | 2017-18 Team Stats | FW |
| 4-1 | Record | 3-1 |
| 0-0 | Conference Record | 0-0 |
| 71.0 | PPG | 84.3 |
| 64.0 | Opp PPG | 66.5 |
| .456 | FG% | .434 |
| .376 | Opp FG% | .397 |
| 41.2 | RPG | 41.3 |
| .371 | 3PT FG% | .385 |
| .263 | Opp 3PT FG% | .301 |
| .627 | FT% | .701 |
| 15.2 | APG | 17.5 |
| 6.0 | SPG | 9.0 |
| 6.4 | BPG | 3.0 |
Don’t pity Hamidou Diallo and his teammates though. They embrace the grind.
“I like playing, to be honest,” Diallo said. “I like playing against different opponents, so I would say it’s better for me. I think my teammates like playing as well. It’s better to play against other players than always play against ourselves.”
Diallo has certainly gotten his wish to this point. For the third time this season, the No. 8/8 Wildcats (4-1) will play on just one day of rest when they host Fort Wayne (3-1) in their third of four Adolph Rupp Classic games on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
The Mastodons have won three straight games by double digits and boast a pair of standouts who figure to test the Cats in Bryson Scott and John Konchar. Scott is an explosive scorer, averaging 22 points a game. The 6-foot-1 senior is also averaging 6.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.5 steals. Konchar, a 6-5 guard, has filled up the stat sheet at a similar clip, averaging 11.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.3 steals.
Konchar has played an instrumental role in Fort Wayne’s average rebounding margin of plus seven on the season. UK’s is now similar at plus 6.8, largely on the strength of a 53-30 edge over Troy in a 70-62 win on Monday.
While Diallo is happy to be back in Rupp Arena, Calipari would like a little more time to teach from that game. The Cats played their best 20 minutes of the season in the first half of that win over Troy, but struggled to close the game out and watched a 21-point lead dwindle to single digits.
“Folks, this is going to be a process, it’s going to be a step at a time,” Calipari said. “I wish I had four or five practice days to say, OK, now we’re going to zero in on this. We don’t. (Tuesday’s) probably going to be more of a walkthrough, get ready for Wednesday.”
The short turnaround means UK must use its time wisely.
“We gotta just focus on our stuff mainly,” Wenyen Gabriel said. “So when we get into practice, focus on what we did wrong this game, our defensive breakdowns and we’re going to go over some of the things from the other team.”
The Cats are nearing the end of their demanding stretch, with another game Sunday vs. Illinois Chicago to be followed by a week to prepare for Harvard on Dec. 2. The goal is to make the most of every opportunity, be it in games or practice.
“We play Wednesday,” Calipari said. “I mean, so we got to get by this spell of games and get some time on the floor where we can work on stuff, because right now we’re trying to do it on the fly. It’s hard.”
Kentucky Holds Off Troy
Kevin Knox scored 17 points and the No. 8 Wildcats built a big lead in the second half before withstanding a late rally by Troy to hold on for a 70-62 victory on Monday night.
After having to rally in three of its previous four games, the Wildcats (4-1) led throughout against the Trojans (2-3). They built a double-digit lead early and extended it to 21 twice in the second half, the last time at 66-45 with 8:25 remaining and things seemingly clicking.
Just as fast, the Wildcats’ big lead became a needed cushion.
Troy began making baskets, while Kentucky misfired and committed 12 turnovers. The Trojans eventually fought back to within eight on Wesley Person’s three-point play with 1:08 remaining.
Fortunately for the Wildcats, Kevin Knox came up with the last of its season-high 53 rebounds with 21 seconds left, allowing them to run out the clock and preserve their second victory in the Adolph Rupp Classic named for the legendary Kentucky coach.
Quade Green had 13 points and reserve forward Wenyen Gabriel scored a season-high 12 for the Wildcats. Hamidou Diallo had a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with eight points.
After making just 3 of 15 from the free throw line and committing a season-high 22 turnovers against ETSU, the Wildcats improved in those and other statistical categories. They converted 15 of 23 chances, made just 16 turnovers this time and controlled rebounding by a 2-to-1 margin at one point. But their lost focus and allowed the Trojans to make it interesting.
• Tied 8-8, Kentucky took control with an 8-0 run, giving the Wildcats a lead they did not relinquish. UK forced seven straight missed shots by the Trojans during that stretch
• Troy scored 62 points. Under Coach John Calipari, the Wildcats are 149-5 when limiting opponents to 63 points or less
• UK dominated the rebounding, 53-30, the fourth consecutive game that the Wildcats won or tied the boardwork. Kentucky grabbed a season high in rebounds
• UK limited Troy to just 4 of 27 on 3-point shots, 14.8 percent. Through five games, UK opponents are averaging 26.6 3-point attempts per game. The school record for most 3-point attempts by opponents is 22.5 per game in 2006-07
• Knox scored a game-high 17 points and has reached double figures in all five games
• Nick Richards had eight points and eight boards in 12 minutes
Calipari Inks Three for 2018 During Fall Signing Period
In what’s become somewhat of a fall tradition in college basketball and a celebration of riches in the Big Blue Nation, the Kentucky men’s basketball team has begun building one of the strongest recruiting classes in the country, signing three of the nation’s top players during the early fall signing period. Highly rated prospects Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson and Immanuel Quickley have all inked national letters of intent with UK.
All three players are consensus four- or five-star prospects and all are ranked in the top 50 by the major national recruiting services. Although it’s still early in the recruiting process with a number of dominoes still to fall, national analysts once again believe UK’s class will be one of the top hauls for 2018.
In every season in the John Calipari era, the Wildcats have signed a top-three recruiting class according to the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, which tallies major recruiting rankings and plugs them into a formula to calculate a consensus ranking.
• Tyler Herro – At 6-foot-5, Herro has length, and now listed at 195 pounds by 247Sports, he’s quickly adding muscle to his frame. The shooting guard out of Whitnall High School in Greenfield, Wisconsin, averaged 23.9 points and shot 39 percent from 3-point range in his junior season in high school. The top-ranked player out of Wisconsin, Herro is considered one of the top shooting guards in the 2018 class. A consensus four-star recruit, Herro is ranked as high as No. 27 in ESPN’s rankings, No. 38 by Rivals and No. 40 by 247Sports. Herro was one of 54 players selected for the USA Basketball Junior National Team minicamp in October. He also averaged 14.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game on the Nike circuit this past summer, shooting 36 percent from 3-point range
• Keldon Johnson – A 6-6 shooting guard out of Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, Johnson is a consensus five-star player and one of the best in the class of 2018. A native of South Hill, Virginia, he previously played for Huntington Prep in Huntington, West Virginia, before transferring to Oak Hill for the 2017-18 season. Johnson is ranked as high as the No. 7 overall prospect by ESPN, including third at his position. 247Sports ranks him as the nation’s No. 11 overall player, while Rivals has him at No. 18. He led his Boo Williams (Va.) AAU team to the semifinals of the Peach Jam after averaging 20.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists during the Nike regular season. Johnson took home MVP honors at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in June. Like Herro, Johnson was one of 54 players selected for the USA Basketball Junior National Team minicamp in October
• Immanuel Quickley – A 6-4 guard out of the John Carroll School in Bel Air, Maryland, Quickley is a consensus five-star prospect. Considered a consensus top-three player at his position, he’s ranked as high as No. 10 by Rivals, No. 12 by ESPN and No. 13 by 247Sports. In his junior season at John Carroll, Quickley averaged 23.7 points and 7.2 assists. He scored 30 or more in five games, 20 or more in 14 games and finished with eight double-doubles. He also averaged 25.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and shot 42.1 percent from 3-point range in the Adidas Summer Championships in July. Quickley was a member of the 2017 USA Men’s U19 World Cup Team that competed in Cairo. Playing under Calipari, Quickley averaged 6.7 points and 2.4 assists in 18.3 minutes per game. He was named the Baltimore Sun Metro Player of the Year in 2016
